India is all set to acquire five advanced S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia as the negotiation for the Rs 39,000-crore deal is in its final round, a report by the Times of India stated.

In 2017, the S-400 was described, as of 2017, as “one of the best air-defence systems currently made.” The missile systems can detect, track and destroy hostile strategic bombers, stealth fighters, spy planes, missiles and drones at a range of up to 400 km and altitude of 30 km, the report adds.

With this deal, India would be the second customer of the prized missile system after China which had struck a USD 3 billion contract in 2016.

A defence ministry source told TOI that India wants to finalise the deal in this financial year and all the five S-400 systems are likely to be delivered to India in the next 54 months.

Reports suggest that the S-400 can be used to completely neutralize Pakistan’s short-range NASR (Hatf-IX) nuclear missiles. The neighbouring country has on multiple occasions brandished its NASR missiles as a threat to counter India’s aggressive counter to its ceasefire violations.

The S-400, an upgraded version of the S-300, had previously only been available to the Russian defence forces. It is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and has been in service in Russia since 2007

The missile system has different kinds of supersonic and hypersonic missiles to intercept incoming aerial threats at different ranges. India is finalizing the deal for the long range (120-370 km) interception missiles. Carried on mobile launchers, the missiles can engage targets at the ranges of – 120 km, 200 km, 250 km and 380 km. The missiles can hit targets at the speed of 17,000 kilometres per hour, which is faster than any existing aircraft.